Sherlock Holmes: A character close to reality

Fiction, in the form of novels, movies, TV series and drama serials, forms a significant part of our entertainment. From fantasies to fairy tales, the purpose of all these extras in life is not only to provide reasonable entertainment, but also to teach certain life lessons through the examples of other stories. They are a source of inspiration for people, who then prefer to follow in the footsteps of their favorite heroes. But since most of it is fiction, not all of it can be implemented in real life. And while not all of it can be implemented, some can be,one such example being that of Sherlock Holmes.

Most of you are probably familiar with Sherlock Holmes. It is a book series by British author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It follows the story of a British private detective of the same name, better known as ‘consulting detective’, who along with his partner, Dr. Watson, solves the oddest of the cases there are. The idea of a partner like Dr. Watson with a prodigy like Sherlock is to emphasize the difference between the intellect of an average person and a super genius detective. But even with the difference, what Sherlock does is something everyone can achieve.

It’s all about observation

Through the character of Sherlock, Sir Arthur has emphasized a very crucial point; all you need is a little observation. We do so many activities everyday but only subconsciously. Our brain is not actively participating in the information we gather through our senses. Million of cars pass us everyday as we travel in our own car but not one can we remember when we come home. There are so many things we take for granted everyday and our brain, which is trained to handle this stuff, pushes it down the trash lane.

But for Sherlock, no information is unimportant. He does not take anything for granted. He has learned to train his mind to commit the tiniest of details to memory through unwavering concentration. Whenever he sees something, it is necessary that it answers the question ‘why’. That is what makes him a successful detective.

Being observant is clearly something that every human being has the power to do. While what Sherlock does reaches perfection, what we can learn is how to train our brains to capture the minimal of details when we gaze around. Try not to trash everything that enters your brain and don’t worry about the space; our brain has enough space to store information for a million lifetimes.

Deductive Reasoning

We all come across so many unusual things in our lives, but the difference between us and a person like Sherlock is, we jump to the worst possible conclusions. While his conclusions are based on facts, ours are based on opinions. That’s the second most interesting thing about this series, it shows how you can change your perspective about something. It tells us that our judgment should be based on facts and observations and not opinions driven by emotions.

How can we achieve this magical power of fair deductions? The answer is in the British TV series version of Sherlock Holmes, which goes by the name Sherlock. In one of the episodes, Sherlock and his brother Mycroft, play a game of deductions. They come across this unusual hat and deduce through the look of the hat the type of the person who wears it. They discuss about it, flinging suitable deductions back and forth and trying to justify and negate the already presented deductions.

And that, my friends, is how one can improve deductive reasoning.

Mind Palace

This is one such quality of Sherlock that has real life examples. Also known as the method of loci, this method is a mnemonic device adopted in ancient Roman and Greek rhetorical treatises. It employs the concept of linking your memories to a palace or a building in your mind. The key is to have a complete picture of the building you plan on using. It should imprinted in your mind quite clearly for you to memorize effectively. Link the information to the different things in the room, or to the room themselves. And explore it like Sherlock did whenever you want.

It is always fun as well as interesting if we bring out the best in every situation. What media shows and portrays is not always bad and is not always worth the negative criticism we offer it. We can learn so much from it if we want to. So while you watch your favorite movie or series or read your favorite novel, try to extract the lessons hidden in it.